If the thought of sitting cross-legged makes you antsy, try these ways to calm down, clear your chattering mind and possibly even transcend.

By Jena Pincott

Photo: Thinkstock

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The "Angry Birds" Meditation

The world's third-ranking Buddhist, the 17th Karmapa Lama, Trinley Thaye Dorje, made shock waves when he revealed his secret for calming the unquiet mind—PlayStation video games. "I can release that [negative] energy in the context of the illusion of the game. ... I don't have to go and hit anyone over the head," he said in an interview with The Times of India. Science confirms that. "Gaming can be a type of meditative practice," psychologists Jayne Gackenbach and Johnathan Bown say, citing their findings: increased awareness, calm control, absorption, heart rate variability and lowered stress. No one is saying that reaching the highest level of Dead Space 2 is exactly Nirvana. But, as the Karmapa Lama says, it's "an emotional therapy."